Will no one rid us of these people? How did they get so powerful? Will we ever collectively snap out of it?

I’m seriously of the opinion that the answer to the last question is “no”, and things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. I keep thinking of the book The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, in which the U.S. has become the Republic of Gilead: a theocracy as oppressive as the Taliban but enforced by Christian fundamentalists rather than Islamic. We’re not there yet, and it’s a ways off, but we sure seem to be moving in that direction. Unfortunately the opposing force is building very slowly and it could take decades to reverse these trends, by which time it could be too late. Already this administration tries to “discourage” mainstream media reports that are critical of it. How long before that discouragement becomes official and compulsory? I can picture my friend Jim, who is a hardcore Bushie, laughing at me and saying, “That can’t happen here.”

It can happen anywhere, and it’s happening here, slowly but surely. No one is stopping it. No one is stepping forward to say “no more.” It makes me want to stop reading the news entirely; to bury my head in the sand, ignore the fact that there’s an outside world, and immerse myself in my favorite virtual ones.

But I won’t. I may not know what to do to help stop the national infection, but I can’t close my eyes to it and pretend it’s not happening, which is why I keep writing these occasional types of entries and links to the stories that fuel them. Even if it doesn’t impact anyone but me, it keeps me aware, and in the future it will be a reminder.